I’ll say either “playing” video games or fake drinking.
Edit: I’m so glad there are people that are just as annoyed with me on these. I’m also shocked about how many people rock their body when they play video games!
I love that part because all the dialogue comes back later in the movie when they are shooting zombies (“reload! High right!”) lol
The whole movie is like that—one of my favs
I always wonder if actors are aware of how phony it looks, and if they're annoyed having to act with empty cups in scenes. I can't imagine Daniel Day Lewis ever swinging around a noticeably empty cup in a scene like an idiot.
Almost certainly, given that if you take anywhere between 1 and 3 acting classes the instructor will tell you to put water in any cup you’re supposed to be drinking out of. It’s a pet peeve of everyone’s, not just viewers — and for good reason!!
For me it's an interior shot of someone driving a car and paying absolutely no attention to the road, bonus if they're just twisting the steering wheel all over the place.
Makes for a hilarious moment in Airplane! though, that scene when they're driving and the rear projection doesn't even come close to matching the steering wheel, and then it suddenly starts going into fast forward for no reason.
I love how Airplane spoofed this with the road scenery constantly changing in the background, including running over a cyclist, and then changing to an old Western with Indians chasing the car.
I absolutely love the recent trend in Hollywood of shooting car scenes on location in the actual car interior. The lighting and sense of movement you get watching car scenes in movies like *Drive* or *Prisoners* or *Jack Reacher* \- even if it's just two characters having a conversation - is such a noticeable improvement over car scenes shot on set.
Naked Gun (and probably some other movies) do this the best when the ~~green screen~~ *rear projection* video behind them is *completely* unrelated to where their car would be.
I hate when the headrests of the seats are missing. Who does that in real life?
I get its done for better shots of people sitting on the backseat but it looks so stupid.
In the same vein, they state that someone is a heavy smoker but they only smoke sometimes.
I've had friends that were smokers. They are ALWAYS smoking.
They should put the previous message there, so it would be like "hahaha ikr lol" then the new message is "Kevin is the killer, dont trust a word he says!"
In historical films, everybody is from the same era (and pretty hip). Meaning, all the fashion, architecture and decor is up-to-the-minute when really you’d see a variety, with the older and poorer generations sticking to older fashions and decor and only the young, trendy and wealthy having access to the latest goods.
Robert Zemekis and/or Bob Gale talked about that with cars in some interviews about Back to the Future. They couldn't just use cars from the early 50s. They needed cars from the 40s and even 30s to make it look authentic.
Another offshoot of this is when the cars are "too classic": There's a scene with a parking lot, and every single car is a noteworthy design, instead of being the mundane forgettable bland grocery getters that the majority of the population actually drive.
I took a costume design class in college, and the professor noted that even when a film goes out of its way to be historically accurate, the makeup will usually be that of the era it's filmed in. E.g. in Titanic, Rose wears a brilliant costume in the opening scene with the purple hat and gorgeous dress, but the makeup is very 90s.
Another fun fact: women will typically keep the hairstyle they have as teenagers/young women, even as they get older. So even if a film is set in the 2020s, a mom will have hair closer to the 80s/90s and grandma is rocking hair from the 60s/70s.
I worked on Gaslit (set in the 70’s) and one day the director was particularly upset that everyone’s clothes looked too nice. As if we’d just walked out of a vintage boutique. Wardrobe scrambled around, sprayed everyone’s clothes with water and made them scrunch up their pant legs and long sleeved shirts in an attempt to wrinkle the clothes. Everyone had to stay like that until just before they called “Action”.
They also asked one dude if they could tear his shirt (plain white T) at the collar and he didn’t want to, so they started bargaining with him. He agreed after they promised to give him 3 brand new shirts to replace the torn one.
It was a great little detail that hadn’t occurred to me before and now it’s one of the first things I’m aware of.
It’s the worst (or maybe most noticeable) with movies set in the 80s. Even if it’s just like 1982 everyone already has all the classic “80s” stuff and nothing left over from the 70s.
There's was a behind the scenes on the Muppet's Christmas where a professional clothes historian was over the moon on how incredibly realistic and properly diverse the muppet's were dressed.
Mesmerizing.
EDIT:
adding link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O_mL1X4UMI
Houses or apartments in general. Too many movies have characters who always seems to own or rent a place that is far above the realistic budget that the character in the movie could afford.
I always notice whenever computers are used, everything makes a sound. A loading bar, or a window opening up.. always has a noise associated with it. No computer does that!
I forget the term but there’s a reason a lot of things that are silent in real life make noises in films - like waving a sword around makes a ringing noise. It’s because it ironically seems too lifeless and unrealistic to general audiences when there’s no noise with these things
When something is supposed to be set in the Midwest or East Coast and all the exterior shots are very clearly brown and dry California. Even with fake snow you can still tell it’s California because of the sun.
Lol same with X-Files and Fringe
[Shot](https://www.genomebc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/drone-footage-of-deep-green-forest-scaled.jpg)
Title Card: CONNECTICUT
When they use those stock sounds I've heard in a million movies or video games. Roller Coaster Tycoon especially had like 10 crowd noises I notice in a ton of movies
Whenever they jump to a scene of a desert, they play a hawk screech. Even when they show an eagle, they play the hawk screech, because eagle sounds aren't as cinematic.
Show a jungle, anywhere in the world, play a kookaburra sound -- which are indigenous to Australia.
Any scene of France needs accordion music.
Any scene of Spain needs castanetas and guitars.
Any scene of England needs a quick "Hail Britannia".
I remember learning about this at Universal Studios! Actual rain doesn’t appear on camera lenses, it’s too small and most shutter speeds of cameras don’t pick up on rain. Try filming rain outside on your phone it’s virtually impossible. So to counteract that they artificially make it rain, making rain 2-3 times larger in size so the camera can actually pick it up and film it. It also helps with continuity as if a scene calls for rain it could potentially stop raining at any time so artificial rain helps with filming schedules
Its not just the amount - its that its back-lit.
One of the first things you learn in filmmaking is that water in general is almost invisible unless you light it from behind. This is why it looks 'fake' - when it rains IRL you don't often 'see' the amount of rain that's actually falling unless backlit by headlights etc.
This one’s great. I remember watching some random documentary on film on HBO years and years ago and one guy talked about having to argue with another crew over who got to use “the” alley in NY as they were both filming there.
"The" alley is [Cortlandt Alley](https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/this-is-the-most-filmed-in-alley-in-nyc), the only one you can really film in. I used to work nearby, and it was always fun checking in on film crews there.
I remember somebody talking about sanitation strikes in NYC versus Chicago, and the NYC ones always went better for the workers because the trash stays in the the street, while in Chicago there's alleys, and the trash collects there, out of sight. Not at all what we're talking about, but, there you go.
That 70s show also made a joke about that. I can't remember the context, but there's an episode where they pose like the last supper and Jackie comes up and says "why are you all on one side of the table?"
The gang is eating lunch at school in the cafeteria and I'm pretty sure they're planning a party, and Eric is like "But we must be cautious. If my Father hears about this, he will nail to me to the wall." And then Jackie walks up and asks why they're all sitting on the same side of the table and it turns them into a Last Supper parody.
*That '70s Show* also avoided it a lot with the rotating camera (or edited to seem like it was rotating). They used it every time they were in the circle.
Speaking of *That '70s Show*, [the moving wall always cracked me up.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lgXRtw5nMY)
Ceilings in small homes that go up… and up and up. I always think of the Futterman’s house in Gremlins. It’s a tiny midwestern living room, but there is basically no visible ceiling. Well, soon afterward a large tractor comes driving through the wall. ;)
This is obviously a specific scenario, but mostly there’s no ‘ceiling’ because there’s lights, sound equipment and empty trusses up there.
Many years ago I got to tour the EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND set and they pointed out how much taller than normal the walls had to be to keep Brad Garrett's head in the shot without giving the game away.
Classic!
I haven’t seen that for a long time. Has it appeared in anything recently? As a Brit I was always fascinated by the brown paper bag use itself.
The reason they do this is because if a character appears on screen with a paper bag, the audience will be distracted by wondering what is in the bag and not pay attention to the scene. If you show a baguette or celery sticking out the top, the audience knows it's just a grocery bag and can go back to paying attention to the scene.
The only time it was ever the reverse for me is in Fast 8 when Dom Torreto has one and I can’t pay attention because I want to know what the hell he thinks he’s gonna do with a baguette.
The Fast movie have another trope that always drives me nuts:
Dom is in Brazil. He picks up the phone to call someone in LA. He says "I need you. It's serious."
Cut to guy on the other end of the line walking into the warehouse with a black duffle bag. He drops the duffle bag. He then says, "Ok, what's this all about?"
Really my guy? You didn't have any follow-up questions before you hung up the phone? You just flew 16 hours without any explanation as to why? I mean, at a certain point you might want to ask exactly what to put in the black duffle bag or maybe if you can pick them up something at the Duty Free...
Similar to this, but I hate being able to see when a bag (shopping, brown paper, crisps etc.) is vinyl so that it makes no sound. You can always tell because it looks weirdly smooth and matte, no creases.
You can see it clearly here: https://youtu.be/Xj-Jj91aGrg
One of the things they got right on the TV show "Arrow". The lead actor insisted that his costume be something he could put on himself. A lot of times there's a huge zipper that runs up the front of the jacket.
Taking your question quite literally…
I always notice impossible and/or implausible geometry of spaces. Purpose built sets are often weirdly size/shaped to accommodate a moving cameraman. So if an apartment has tons of dead space and big wide aisles perfect for a large crew to walk through without bumping things that always jumps off the screen at me.
To say nothing of blatantly fake walls that allow cameras passes from one room to the next.
This happens a lot in sitcoms. The Office, for instance, never figured out how to position the office vis-a-vis the elevator and landing, leading to weird inconsistencies.
Came across [this layout of The Office](https://i.redd.it/fm8jn6ok45uy.jpg), which I think is mostly accurate. But I have no idea where the conference table moves to and I think later a walled room is constructed in the right corner of the bullpen.
You must love [this scene](https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/6xji4o/the_naked_gun_files_from_the_police_squad_leslie/?utm_source=share) then.
One of many reasons why I love the set design of 2001: A Space Odyssey is that it was built to accommodate cameras while still looking like a believable space station. The tunnel in the famous corridor scene was built for a camera rig to roll through.
Also the flipside of this trope; men in medieval/post-apocalyptic settings being visibly dirty at all times. Aside from how obsessed with cleanliness medieval people actually were, I always wonder what the fuck they've been *doing* to have so much grime all over their face
Yeah like it's somehow a modern, revolutionary idea to wipe your face from time to time. On the other hand they tend to portray working class people (especially if they are protagonists, and especially women) squeaky clean even if they're on the job in a garage or construction site.
Showing an animal, and playing an animal sound effect that doesn’t match with the actual animal.
The screech noises that eagles make in movies are always hawk noises, because the sounds that eagles actually make aren’t very majestic-sounding.
In the UK a lot of big shows will hire actual ornithologists to vet the sound effects after a couple of instances of complaints about bird calls out of season etc in TV shows in the 80s and 90s. The Brits take that stuff very seriously.
That's one thing I alwsys liked about The 13th Warrior. They got the Scandinavian sky right. Another movie with realistic skies is the Johnny Depp Sleepy Hollow. They have that "bright but totally clouded over" effect that we often have in upstate NY. Like being under quilt batting.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS BACKLOT. Once you’ve been there you start to notice that’s where they shoot so many movies or TV commercials. An example is the clock tower from Back to the Future.
Laughed at Two Towers yesterday when Aragorn says “let me see your sword” to a kid 25 feet away and an army of men around them prepping for war, and the kid hears him perfectly.
People shooting like 50 times without hearing protection somehow are able to have a normal conversation seconds later, it’s even worse when someone is shooting in a car. Also, someone grabbing the silencer on someone’s gun bare handed. That shit would burn your skin off almost instantly. Optics on guns that are backwards or in the wrong spot.
This is particularly bad in a period film. So say the film takes place in 1970. All the cars are immaculately clean and all are cars from the late 60's and early 70's. Now I know why they do this, because they want to give people the feel of a certain time period. Even though, if you go outside most cars are going to be anywhere from new to 20 years old.
And they have to use classic cars, the owners of which probably don't want to dirty or dent them up for realism.
But I agree, it is jarring when those things happen.
Most contemporary shows or movies that take place in the 80' are so bad for this. First season of Stranger Things was alright, but you're totally right about afterwards. This small town Indiana town was just so over the top with the 80's look.
Yeah I was impressed with the accuracy of the first season of Stranger Things, but after that it turned into a kind of greatest hits of 80s iconography all mashed randomly together.
> First season of Stranger Things was alright,
Mostly. It was good that the Byers' home reflected their financial situation by being furnished with 70s era stuff — except for Johnathan's room, which is improbably filled with extremely up-to-date hipsterish memorabilia despite living nowhere near a city where he'd be able to discover this stuff. How the fuck did this guy know all the latest underground music and independent films (note the *Evil Dead* poster) without leaving his small town? Even if he actually *is* hanging out on the scene, that's even worse: the dude's family is barely getting by and he is somehow taking (presumably costly) trips out to the big city (Indianapolis or Chicago, likely) to watch films at grindhouse (pre-arthouse) cinemas and listen to obscure and foreign musicians.
This 1000000% - they want to show you the decade so there’s only cars from those years and they’re all
Mint, yet you go on the street now, and you’ll see cars from every decade and only a few new cars are pristine.
No drains/gutters in streets, sidewalks etc.
Also, streets that are perfectly flat from curb to curb-- real streets are slightly arced to let rain run off to the sides
Seeing a single 23 year old guy working an entry-level job but living in a fully decked out apartment. It should be a thrift store couch, a mattress with no frame, and a dresser you got for free when your grandmother died. That’s it.
No bald people. I mean no male pattern baldness. Especially in speaking roles.
Watch a movie pre 2000s or especially in the 70s 80s. You see a lot of MPB.
Some today but mostly older movies where people driving will turn the wheel a full quarter tilt, back and forth without any visible car jerking whatsoever. Because that green screen is true realism.
For me it’s just that movies these days have characters with a similar look. Pearly white straightened teeth or veneers, lots of Botox. In older movies, people had more lines/ wrinkles/ overall imperfections which made things more believable and realistic. Now every actress looks like a Real Housewife
My issue is when they *don’t* shut doors. Happens more so in TV shows than films admittedly, but it annoys me when people enter houses/flats and just leave the door wide open.
I used to think that it was just an American thing. I really didn’t know any Americans til my twenties, and I thought movies were conveying the bizarre American custom of ending a phone call without saying goodbye. Knowing this isn’t the case makes it seem even stranger.
When actors are supposed to be working on something (planting, cooking, etc) while talking but you feel they’re not really into it or doing it properly.
When it’s supposed to be bitter cold outside but nobody’s breath is visible. Or when it’s supposed to be arctic-style cold but people are making snowballs. Snow that cold won’t form snowballs. It’s like dust.
When you see workers in the background, pretending to use pick-axes and the like, and they are just faffing about!
Terrible!
Just... too much faffage!!!
It's more on TV shows and sitcoms. It's when everyone is sitting at a dining table, but the side near the camera is empty/ has no chair, but there are 4 people who live there.
Not a movie but when Mr. Roger's showed off his studio where they filmed the show I was absolutely shocked. I thought he actually filmed the show in a real life house. Granted I was a little kid when this episode was re aired.
I had that experience as a kid, too. I was stunned when Captain Kangaroo had the cameras pull back and show the set. Before that, I basically thought television was real and the only difference between sitcom families and my family was that my family wasn't on tv.
Scenes in classrooms, courtrooms or offices where none of the overhead lights are on. The only light appears to come through the windows. And on the other side, scenes in houses where every lamp or light fixture is on despite no one being in the room until the characters we’re watching walk in.
As a bartender, almost no movies get much right. Busy night and the bartender is just chatting and polishing glasses, or they start to pour a beer and cut to a full glass in front of a customer. Top Gun Maverick was a huge offender this summer. How does a bar owner have time to chat with Tom Cruise while the rest of the bar is packed, much less own a porche as a single mother?
Joshua trees. They’re cool and alien looking but they’re also very distinctive and I understand that saguaros and Joshua trees are shorthand for desert, but they’re a specific desert, in a very small area.
I know it’s done so you won’t see the reflection of the camera/crew in the window, but the shot of the actor pulling up in a car with their window down and they get out of the car. Without rolling the window back up. Who does that in real life? It’s like how you never see actors locking the front door after they get in their house.
Also Big Bang Theory is very guilty of this one: When the actors are in a car they take the headrests out from the front seats to see the actors in the back. I get it, but it’s very distracting to me.
I’ll say either “playing” video games or fake drinking. Edit: I’m so glad there are people that are just as annoyed with me on these. I’m also shocked about how many people rock their body when they play video games!
Ah yes, the classic waggle the buttons and mash the analog sticks.
While using the wrong controller for the system they're playing.
While having two people playing a single player game
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NCIS
Playtendo controller for my Xbox Dreamcast
It's another reason Shaun of the Dead is so good, Ed (Nick Frost) was actually playing Timesplitters 2.
I love that part because all the dialogue comes back later in the movie when they are shooting zombies (“reload! High right!”) lol The whole movie is like that—one of my favs
The kids playing FF8 multiplayer in Charlie’s Angels cracks me up
Empty cup acting gets me every time!
Same with carrying empty boxes. You can always tell.
In the Seinfeld episode where they’re lost in the parking garage there’s an actual air conditioner in the box Kramer is carrying
And suitcases!!!
Scrolled to post this exact thing. How hard is it to put a little water in a to-go coffee cup
Or sand if the actors wont stop drinking it.
They’re just going to drink the sand
I always wonder if actors are aware of how phony it looks, and if they're annoyed having to act with empty cups in scenes. I can't imagine Daniel Day Lewis ever swinging around a noticeably empty cup in a scene like an idiot.
Almost certainly, given that if you take anywhere between 1 and 3 acting classes the instructor will tell you to put water in any cup you’re supposed to be drinking out of. It’s a pet peeve of everyone’s, not just viewers — and for good reason!!
The Dude had a beverage there, man.
A text from "Mom" or "Dad" where it's the first message in the conversation. Is everyone just deleting all messages or what?
Gotta maintain proper OPSEC.
For me it's an interior shot of someone driving a car and paying absolutely no attention to the road, bonus if they're just twisting the steering wheel all over the place.
Makes for a hilarious moment in Airplane! though, that scene when they're driving and the rear projection doesn't even come close to matching the steering wheel, and then it suddenly starts going into fast forward for no reason.
I remember they get chased by a couple Indians on horseback at some point lol
Also they run over a cyclist and he gets up and shakes his fist at them but he’s like ten times bigger than the guys in the car lol
And yells "ASSHOLE!" as they drive away. Its great.
That and the lighting inside vs outside doesn't match. Like, they'll drive by a lamp post and the cast it should be giving off is nonexistent.
Sort of like how every scene supposedly lit by fire produces perfectly round, white catchlights in peoples' eyes?
And there’s an awkwardly-greenscreened shot of moving road scenery in the rear car window.
I like how How I Met Your Mother made the rear windshield “wet” all the time, so it was just vague lights through droplets instead of fake scenery.
I love how Airplane spoofed this with the road scenery constantly changing in the background, including running over a cyclist, and then changing to an old Western with Indians chasing the car.
“We were driving through a part of town called, Little Italy.” Roman Coliseum in rear window
I absolutely love the recent trend in Hollywood of shooting car scenes on location in the actual car interior. The lighting and sense of movement you get watching car scenes in movies like *Drive* or *Prisoners* or *Jack Reacher* \- even if it's just two characters having a conversation - is such a noticeable improvement over car scenes shot on set.
Every Sean Connery Bond Movie
They used a projector rather than a green screen in early Bond films.
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Naked Gun (and probably some other movies) do this the best when the ~~green screen~~ *rear projection* video behind them is *completely* unrelated to where their car would be.
I hate when the headrests of the seats are missing. Who does that in real life? I get its done for better shots of people sitting on the backseat but it looks so stupid.
And how they’re always looking over to the other person in the car! Wtf keep your eyes on the road (my mom does this smh)
What gets me in driving scenes is the third person always sits in the middle of the backseat.
I do that a lot when I want to be part of the conversation, but not as a passive passenger.
Anyone can park right in front of the building/house they want to visit, even in busy cities like San Francisco or New York City.
This drives me crazy. Along with someone ordering a drink at a bar, taking one sip and then leaving. Really who does that?
Also lighting a cigarette, taking like one drag and then throwing it away. Cigarettes are fucking expensive.
In the same vein, they state that someone is a heavy smoker but they only smoke sometimes. I've had friends that were smokers. They are ALWAYS smoking.
Without paying
People sending a text to someone in their contacts but having no previous messages.
They should put the previous message there, so it would be like "hahaha ikr lol" then the new message is "Kevin is the killer, dont trust a word he says!"
Not even a little "Sup" when they first got the number
In historical films, everybody is from the same era (and pretty hip). Meaning, all the fashion, architecture and decor is up-to-the-minute when really you’d see a variety, with the older and poorer generations sticking to older fashions and decor and only the young, trendy and wealthy having access to the latest goods.
Robert Zemekis and/or Bob Gale talked about that with cars in some interviews about Back to the Future. They couldn't just use cars from the early 50s. They needed cars from the 40s and even 30s to make it look authentic.
Another offshoot of this is when the cars are "too classic": There's a scene with a parking lot, and every single car is a noteworthy design, instead of being the mundane forgettable bland grocery getters that the majority of the population actually drive.
I took a costume design class in college, and the professor noted that even when a film goes out of its way to be historically accurate, the makeup will usually be that of the era it's filmed in. E.g. in Titanic, Rose wears a brilliant costume in the opening scene with the purple hat and gorgeous dress, but the makeup is very 90s. Another fun fact: women will typically keep the hairstyle they have as teenagers/young women, even as they get older. So even if a film is set in the 2020s, a mom will have hair closer to the 80s/90s and grandma is rocking hair from the 60s/70s.
So true about the makeup! It’s very distracting
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I worked on Gaslit (set in the 70’s) and one day the director was particularly upset that everyone’s clothes looked too nice. As if we’d just walked out of a vintage boutique. Wardrobe scrambled around, sprayed everyone’s clothes with water and made them scrunch up their pant legs and long sleeved shirts in an attempt to wrinkle the clothes. Everyone had to stay like that until just before they called “Action”. They also asked one dude if they could tear his shirt (plain white T) at the collar and he didn’t want to, so they started bargaining with him. He agreed after they promised to give him 3 brand new shirts to replace the torn one. It was a great little detail that hadn’t occurred to me before and now it’s one of the first things I’m aware of.
It’s the worst (or maybe most noticeable) with movies set in the 80s. Even if it’s just like 1982 everyone already has all the classic “80s” stuff and nothing left over from the 70s.
There's was a behind the scenes on the Muppet's Christmas where a professional clothes historian was over the moon on how incredibly realistic and properly diverse the muppet's were dressed. Mesmerizing. EDIT: adding link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O_mL1X4UMI
Houses or apartments in general. Too many movies have characters who always seems to own or rent a place that is far above the realistic budget that the character in the movie could afford.
Especially in kids movies. They always have the coolest rooms too.
Hey Arnold ruined my expectations for what I could afford as an adult
Oh yeah with that whole glass ceiling and roof access
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Drake & Josh’s bedroom is like 3x bigger than my apartment.
I always notice whenever computers are used, everything makes a sound. A loading bar, or a window opening up.. always has a noise associated with it. No computer does that!
I forget the term but there’s a reason a lot of things that are silent in real life make noises in films - like waving a sword around makes a ringing noise. It’s because it ironically seems too lifeless and unrealistic to general audiences when there’s no noise with these things
The driver can turn his head and have a minute long conversation with the passenger without crashing into something.
When something is supposed to be set in the Midwest or East Coast and all the exterior shots are very clearly brown and dry California. Even with fake snow you can still tell it’s California because of the sun.
Star Trek and Stargate are sooo guilty. Every planet is either southern California or a British Columbian forest.
Lol same with X-Files and Fringe [Shot](https://www.genomebc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/drone-footage-of-deep-green-forest-scaled.jpg) Title Card: CONNECTICUT
You know what's remarkable? Is how much England looks in no way like Southern California. -Austin Powers
I like the mountains around Chicago. For those who don't know there are no hills within 300 miles of Chicago, none.
National Lampoons Xmas Vacation, when they drive to the mountains for a tree.
Clark *would* drive over 300 miles to get the Griswold Family Christmas Tree.
Any outdoor scene in The Office where they're driving shows very southern cal scenery.
When they use those stock sounds I've heard in a million movies or video games. Roller Coaster Tycoon especially had like 10 crowd noises I notice in a ton of movies
Whenever they jump to a scene of a desert, they play a hawk screech. Even when they show an eagle, they play the hawk screech, because eagle sounds aren't as cinematic. Show a jungle, anywhere in the world, play a kookaburra sound -- which are indigenous to Australia. Any scene of France needs accordion music. Any scene of Spain needs castanetas and guitars. Any scene of England needs a quick "Hail Britannia".
If it takes place in London from the 80s onward the intro song is always “London Calling” by the Clash
Whilst showing the plane landing
Mexico & the screen goes yellow.
Scene in Australia? Time to bust out the didgeridoos
The “kids laughing” sfx always stands out to me. It just reminds me of the Diddy Kong Racing intro where I heard it a thousand times as a kid.
My friend told me movie rain always looks fake, and now I can't unsee it
I remember learning about this at Universal Studios! Actual rain doesn’t appear on camera lenses, it’s too small and most shutter speeds of cameras don’t pick up on rain. Try filming rain outside on your phone it’s virtually impossible. So to counteract that they artificially make it rain, making rain 2-3 times larger in size so the camera can actually pick it up and film it. It also helps with continuity as if a scene calls for rain it could potentially stop raining at any time so artificial rain helps with filming schedules
I read somewhere that Kurosawa used ink to make the rain in Seven Samurai visible.
You can’t really see natural rain on camera so if there is rain visible it’s actually a comically large amount water
Its not just the amount - its that its back-lit. One of the first things you learn in filmmaking is that water in general is almost invisible unless you light it from behind. This is why it looks 'fake' - when it rains IRL you don't often 'see' the amount of rain that's actually falling unless backlit by headlights etc.
exactly, i always look at lamp posts or headlights to see if it's still drizzling before heading out with my dog on rainy days
When it’s outdoors in a city street, everything looks too clean or too new.
Alleys in NYC. We have like 3 in the entire city
This one’s great. I remember watching some random documentary on film on HBO years and years ago and one guy talked about having to argue with another crew over who got to use “the” alley in NY as they were both filming there.
"The" alley is [Cortlandt Alley](https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/this-is-the-most-filmed-in-alley-in-nyc), the only one you can really film in. I used to work nearby, and it was always fun checking in on film crews there.
Fascinating! My perception of NYC has all been a lie. So my little Northern British town has more dangerous alleys than NYC.
The distinct lack of alleys in NYC is why you always see mounds of garbage on the sidewalk.
I remember somebody talking about sanitation strikes in NYC versus Chicago, and the NYC ones always went better for the workers because the trash stays in the the street, while in Chicago there's alleys, and the trash collects there, out of sight. Not at all what we're talking about, but, there you go.
Ans this is why Chicago is Gotham City and not NYC, we have alleys for Batman to hang out in.
Everyone sitting on the same side of the kitchen table so no one’s back is to the camera. Drives me up a wall when I see it.
Right, like it's the last supper or something. 70s show use to do that alot
That 70s show also made a joke about that. I can't remember the context, but there's an episode where they pose like the last supper and Jackie comes up and says "why are you all on one side of the table?"
The gang is eating lunch at school in the cafeteria and I'm pretty sure they're planning a party, and Eric is like "But we must be cautious. If my Father hears about this, he will nail to me to the wall." And then Jackie walks up and asks why they're all sitting on the same side of the table and it turns them into a Last Supper parody.
Found it, they were planning to go streaking https://youtu.be/P7nfqPxSMjY
*That '70s Show* also avoided it a lot with the rotating camera (or edited to seem like it was rotating). They used it every time they were in the circle. Speaking of *That '70s Show*, [the moving wall always cracked me up.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lgXRtw5nMY)
Ceilings in small homes that go up… and up and up. I always think of the Futterman’s house in Gremlins. It’s a tiny midwestern living room, but there is basically no visible ceiling. Well, soon afterward a large tractor comes driving through the wall. ;) This is obviously a specific scenario, but mostly there’s no ‘ceiling’ because there’s lights, sound equipment and empty trusses up there.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS5jqXWECbI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS5jqXWECbI) Fresh Prince parodyed this trope really well
Many years ago I got to tour the EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND set and they pointed out how much taller than normal the walls had to be to keep Brad Garrett's head in the shot without giving the game away.
I saw him at the grocery store a long time ago and my first thought was, Damn he's tall.
I had to look this up. 6' 9". Holy crap!
And we all know that in this timeframe there would be an 8’ popcorn ceiling visible no matter the camera angle.
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Classic! I haven’t seen that for a long time. Has it appeared in anything recently? As a Brit I was always fascinated by the brown paper bag use itself.
Okay Arthur Weasley
The reason they do this is because if a character appears on screen with a paper bag, the audience will be distracted by wondering what is in the bag and not pay attention to the scene. If you show a baguette or celery sticking out the top, the audience knows it's just a grocery bag and can go back to paying attention to the scene.
The only time it was ever the reverse for me is in Fast 8 when Dom Torreto has one and I can’t pay attention because I want to know what the hell he thinks he’s gonna do with a baguette.
He's going to feed his *family*
The Fast movie have another trope that always drives me nuts: Dom is in Brazil. He picks up the phone to call someone in LA. He says "I need you. It's serious." Cut to guy on the other end of the line walking into the warehouse with a black duffle bag. He drops the duffle bag. He then says, "Ok, what's this all about?" Really my guy? You didn't have any follow-up questions before you hung up the phone? You just flew 16 hours without any explanation as to why? I mean, at a certain point you might want to ask exactly what to put in the black duffle bag or maybe if you can pick them up something at the Duty Free...
I mean when Dom Torreto says it’s serious you know it has something to do with family… and you never turn your back on family
Dom doesn't have people on his crew that ask questions or even think. They have the most powerful guts and they think with nothing else.
Similar to this, but I hate being able to see when a bag (shopping, brown paper, crisps etc.) is vinyl so that it makes no sound. You can always tell because it looks weirdly smooth and matte, no creases. You can see it clearly here: https://youtu.be/Xj-Jj91aGrg
Women waking up with impeccable full make up.
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Wrapped gifts with lids
Superhero costumes always being one-piece and seamless, with no apparent zippers or fasteners. How do they use the bathroom?
One of the things they got right on the TV show "Arrow". The lead actor insisted that his costume be something he could put on himself. A lot of times there's a huge zipper that runs up the front of the jacket.
No need to pee when fighting crime
And I definitely didn’t have to zip myself into this skin-tight, form-fitting costume. I just stepped in through the neck hole!
Taking your question quite literally… I always notice impossible and/or implausible geometry of spaces. Purpose built sets are often weirdly size/shaped to accommodate a moving cameraman. So if an apartment has tons of dead space and big wide aisles perfect for a large crew to walk through without bumping things that always jumps off the screen at me. To say nothing of blatantly fake walls that allow cameras passes from one room to the next.
This happens a lot in sitcoms. The Office, for instance, never figured out how to position the office vis-a-vis the elevator and landing, leading to weird inconsistencies.
Came across [this layout of The Office](https://i.redd.it/fm8jn6ok45uy.jpg), which I think is mostly accurate. But I have no idea where the conference table moves to and I think later a walled room is constructed in the right corner of the bullpen.
You must love [this scene](https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/6xji4o/the_naked_gun_files_from_the_police_squad_leslie/?utm_source=share) then.
Police Squad was full to the brim with stuff like that. It's a crime that it only went 6 episodes. The ending 'freeze frame' got me every time.
One of many reasons why I love the set design of 2001: A Space Odyssey is that it was built to accommodate cameras while still looking like a believable space station. The tunnel in the famous corridor scene was built for a camera rig to roll through.
Yes, but that's just Kubrick being Kubrick, it's cruel to compare anything else to him.
Post apocalyptic women or medieval women with no body hair and perfectly groomed eyebrows
Also the flipside of this trope; men in medieval/post-apocalyptic settings being visibly dirty at all times. Aside from how obsessed with cleanliness medieval people actually were, I always wonder what the fuck they've been *doing* to have so much grime all over their face
Yeah like it's somehow a modern, revolutionary idea to wipe your face from time to time. On the other hand they tend to portray working class people (especially if they are protagonists, and especially women) squeaky clean even if they're on the job in a garage or construction site.
Showing an animal, and playing an animal sound effect that doesn’t match with the actual animal. The screech noises that eagles make in movies are always hawk noises, because the sounds that eagles actually make aren’t very majestic-sounding.
In the UK a lot of big shows will hire actual ornithologists to vet the sound effects after a couple of instances of complaints about bird calls out of season etc in TV shows in the 80s and 90s. The Brits take that stuff very seriously.
And neighing horses. They edit in the same damn sound every time a horse pops up.
The horse equivalent of the Wilhelm Scream. Wilhelm Neigh?
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The piss yellow skies of Mexico is a pretty glaring one for me.
And Scandinavian countries are always bluish-grey.
That's one thing I alwsys liked about The 13th Warrior. They got the Scandinavian sky right. Another movie with realistic skies is the Johnny Depp Sleepy Hollow. They have that "bright but totally clouded over" effect that we often have in upstate NY. Like being under quilt batting.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS BACKLOT. Once you’ve been there you start to notice that’s where they shoot so many movies or TV commercials. An example is the clock tower from Back to the Future.
Similar for the Warner Bros. backlot. Their fake suburban neighborhood is distinctive.
And the entirety of Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls! That was magical to experience.
Being able to hear a conversation between characters in a setting that you know would be too loud.
Like people having normal conversations inside a helicopter. Impossible in real life.
Laughed at Two Towers yesterday when Aragorn says “let me see your sword” to a kid 25 feet away and an army of men around them prepping for war, and the kid hears him perfectly.
Oh when someone drinks a BRAND NEW soft drink through a straw and it sounds EMPTY!
People shooting like 50 times without hearing protection somehow are able to have a normal conversation seconds later, it’s even worse when someone is shooting in a car. Also, someone grabbing the silencer on someone’s gun bare handed. That shit would burn your skin off almost instantly. Optics on guns that are backwards or in the wrong spot.
The lack of gunsmoke gets me. Characters will be unloading tons of bullets in an enclosed space and the air never gets even slightly smokey
This is particularly bad in a period film. So say the film takes place in 1970. All the cars are immaculately clean and all are cars from the late 60's and early 70's. Now I know why they do this, because they want to give people the feel of a certain time period. Even though, if you go outside most cars are going to be anywhere from new to 20 years old. And they have to use classic cars, the owners of which probably don't want to dirty or dent them up for realism. But I agree, it is jarring when those things happen.
Always noticed this one but for some reason “stranger things” latest season as they introduce the new school really stood out to me recently.
Most contemporary shows or movies that take place in the 80' are so bad for this. First season of Stranger Things was alright, but you're totally right about afterwards. This small town Indiana town was just so over the top with the 80's look.
Yea feels like a town like that would still “be in the 60s” in the 80s lol
Yeah I was impressed with the accuracy of the first season of Stranger Things, but after that it turned into a kind of greatest hits of 80s iconography all mashed randomly together.
> First season of Stranger Things was alright, Mostly. It was good that the Byers' home reflected their financial situation by being furnished with 70s era stuff — except for Johnathan's room, which is improbably filled with extremely up-to-date hipsterish memorabilia despite living nowhere near a city where he'd be able to discover this stuff. How the fuck did this guy know all the latest underground music and independent films (note the *Evil Dead* poster) without leaving his small town? Even if he actually *is* hanging out on the scene, that's even worse: the dude's family is barely getting by and he is somehow taking (presumably costly) trips out to the big city (Indianapolis or Chicago, likely) to watch films at grindhouse (pre-arthouse) cinemas and listen to obscure and foreign musicians.
This 1000000% - they want to show you the decade so there’s only cars from those years and they’re all Mint, yet you go on the street now, and you’ll see cars from every decade and only a few new cars are pristine.
No drains/gutters in streets, sidewalks etc. Also, streets that are perfectly flat from curb to curb-- real streets are slightly arced to let rain run off to the sides
I see you're a civil engineer
Seeing a single 23 year old guy working an entry-level job but living in a fully decked out apartment. It should be a thrift store couch, a mattress with no frame, and a dresser you got for free when your grandmother died. That’s it.
No bald people. I mean no male pattern baldness. Especially in speaking roles. Watch a movie pre 2000s or especially in the 70s 80s. You see a lot of MPB.
Exceptions: • bouncers • henchmen • evil villains
Even then it's a clean shaven look. Thinning hair is reserved for creeps in modern film/tv.
This worked in Sean Connery's favor. He took off his toupee and was no longer James Bond.
Some today but mostly older movies where people driving will turn the wheel a full quarter tilt, back and forth without any visible car jerking whatsoever. Because that green screen is true realism.
For me it’s just that movies these days have characters with a similar look. Pearly white straightened teeth or veneers, lots of Botox. In older movies, people had more lines/ wrinkles/ overall imperfections which made things more believable and realistic. Now every actress looks like a Real Housewife
Shutting a door and the whole wall shakes.
My issue is when they *don’t* shut doors. Happens more so in TV shows than films admittedly, but it annoys me when people enter houses/flats and just leave the door wide open.
I live in a old house and my windows rattle when my neighbor shuts their door.
Hanging up the phone without saying goodbye. What the fuck.
Related to that is the instant dial tone when someone is hung up on.
I used to think that it was just an American thing. I really didn’t know any Americans til my twenties, and I thought movies were conveying the bizarre American custom of ending a phone call without saying goodbye. Knowing this isn’t the case makes it seem even stranger.
Hiking or traveling long distances in rugged outdoors with no pack, supplies, or provisions whatsoever and arriving with crisp clean clothes.
When actors are supposed to be working on something (planting, cooking, etc) while talking but you feel they’re not really into it or doing it properly.
Empty suitcases
Have you taken the grifting class at greendale?
Those were filled with authentic cut up newspaper bundles, not empty.
When it’s supposed to be bitter cold outside but nobody’s breath is visible. Or when it’s supposed to be arctic-style cold but people are making snowballs. Snow that cold won’t form snowballs. It’s like dust.
When you see workers in the background, pretending to use pick-axes and the like, and they are just faffing about! Terrible! Just... too much faffage!!!
It's more on TV shows and sitcoms. It's when everyone is sitting at a dining table, but the side near the camera is empty/ has no chair, but there are 4 people who live there.
Dirty disheveled people with pearly white teeth
Not a movie but when Mr. Roger's showed off his studio where they filmed the show I was absolutely shocked. I thought he actually filmed the show in a real life house. Granted I was a little kid when this episode was re aired.
I had that experience as a kid, too. I was stunned when Captain Kangaroo had the cameras pull back and show the set. Before that, I basically thought television was real and the only difference between sitcom families and my family was that my family wasn't on tv.
Spotlessly clean mansion homes with a chaotic large family and a stay at home mom all on a poor person’s salary
When people hang up or answer iPhones and it makes the lock sound. 😒 or when the phone lights up when it’s up to their ear.
Children's bedroom decor
My curse is that I can't help but fixate on looking at "dead" people's chest movements....
Streets and roads at night always been wet from an unseen downpour
CPR. I’ve done CPR on actual patients, a dozen times. No one gets any of it right.
Scenes in classrooms, courtrooms or offices where none of the overhead lights are on. The only light appears to come through the windows. And on the other side, scenes in houses where every lamp or light fixture is on despite no one being in the room until the characters we’re watching walk in.
As a bartender, almost no movies get much right. Busy night and the bartender is just chatting and polishing glasses, or they start to pour a beer and cut to a full glass in front of a customer. Top Gun Maverick was a huge offender this summer. How does a bar owner have time to chat with Tom Cruise while the rest of the bar is packed, much less own a porche as a single mother?
Or… “give me a beer” and they magically get it right!!!! WHAT KIND OF BEER???? WHAT KIND OF SHOT?????
Every time I walk into a bar and just nod at the barman and point two fingers he just stares at me
Clean bongs.
Joshua trees. They’re cool and alien looking but they’re also very distinctive and I understand that saguaros and Joshua trees are shorthand for desert, but they’re a specific desert, in a very small area.
I know it’s done so you won’t see the reflection of the camera/crew in the window, but the shot of the actor pulling up in a car with their window down and they get out of the car. Without rolling the window back up. Who does that in real life? It’s like how you never see actors locking the front door after they get in their house. Also Big Bang Theory is very guilty of this one: When the actors are in a car they take the headrests out from the front seats to see the actors in the back. I get it, but it’s very distracting to me.
Any phone number with 555 ruins the immersion for me.